Olympics Opening Ceremony boosts music downloads
Friday night’s spectacular London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony, has unsurprisingly also had a positive impact on album sales of many of the featured artists.
Music retailer HMV has looked at sales for the CDs/downloads of many of the artists/albums featured on Saturday night (28/7) and compared these with demand just 24 hours earlier (Friday 27/8).
The results show that the greatest beneficiary by some distance is Mike Oldfield, who performed the title track to Tubular Bells during a key part of the ceremony and has seen an overnight 757% surge in sales of his classic 1973 recording to claim the ‘gold medal position’. In second spot are Underworld, whose music provided the backdrop to the much-talked about ‘NHS Scene’ and whose Best Of compilation has risen 500% as a consequence. Making up the winner’s rostrum in third spot, and perhaps a touch ironically given his anti-establishment credentials, is Frank Turner, who performed on the ‘Glastonbury Tor’ stage just ahead of the official opening ceremony and has seen demand for his album England Keep My Bones rise 371% on the previous day.
The CD for the Isles of Wonder: Music for the Opening Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games, which is already available to download, will be in record shops from Thursday, and is expected to go straight to No.1 in the album charts when the next official UK Charts are announced on Sunday.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Top 10 biggest artist beneficiaries of the London 2012 Olympics Opening Ceremony (*based on percentage increase in album sales: Friday 27/7 – Saturday 29/7).
1. Mike Oldfield / Tubular Bells (757%)
2. Underworld / Best Of (500%)
3. Frank Turner / England Keep My Bones (371%)
4. Dizzee Rascal / Tongue In Cheek (346%)
5. Paul McCartney / Beatles 1 (268%)
6. The Sex Pistols / Never Mind The B*******, Here’s The Sex Pistols (166%)
7. The Arctic Monkeys / Whatever People Say That I Am, That’s What I’m Not (146%)
8. David Bowie / Platinum Collection Greatest Hits (139%)
9. Emeli Sandé / Our Version of Events (116%)
10.Vangelis / Chariots of Fire OST (76%)
*Source: HMV
